Harvard Data Science Initiative Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Generative AI for Scholarship

Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) & Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)

About This Series

This three-part introductory workshop series provides a hands-on introduction to generative AI tools for researchers.

Note: These three introductory sessions will be followed by five additional sessions after Spring break, covering advanced topics and specialized applications.

All materials — notebooks, data files, and these resource pages — are available in this repository for use during and after the sessions.

Please bring your laptop to all sessions. These are hands-on workshops where you will be working directly with AI tools and code.

Sessions

Friday, February 20, 2026 · 4:00–5:30 pm
Northwest Building, Room B103

Week 1 — The Basics

Introduction to Google's Gemini AI toolkit: Gemini, NotebookLM, and Gems. Effective prompting and responsible AI use in research.

Prerequisites: No prior AI experience required. This session provides a basic introduction to using the Google AI toolkit in conjunction with uploaded files and custom prompts. Participants need a Harvard-affiliated Google account, such as a g.harvard.edu email address.
Add Session 1 to your Google Calendar
Friday, February 27, 2026 · 4:00–5:30 pm
Northwest Building, Room B103

Week 2 — The AI-Empowered Coder

Incorporating AI into Python workflows: code generation, revision, and debugging.

Prerequisites: Prior experience with Python notebooks required. Participants should have a Colab folder in their Google Drive.
Add Session 2 to your Google Calendar
Friday, March 6, 2026 · 4:00–5:30 pm
Northwest Building, Room B103

Week 3 — Unleashing Claude Code Command Line Interface as a Problem Solver

Hands-on with Claude Code: agentic AI programming and data analysis from the command line.

Prerequisites: Participants should be comfortable with command line (terminal) interactions with the Mac operating system, with Python, and with quantitative data analysis.
Add Session 3 to your Google Calendar

Time and Location

Sessions run 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm in Northwest Building, Room B103, followed by a reception and further discussion.

Northwest Building
52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA